New cutlass bearing

[Charlie98117]

I installed a new cutlass bearing along with a new shaft. Everything felt fine during dry fit and the bearing pressed in easily. After getting everything installed the shaft seems to have too much turning resistance.

Is this normal and something that will loosen up with some run-in? I can understand it being tighter considering the old bearing and shaft were badly worn, just curious if it’s normal to be tight when everything is new.

 

[Ted]

"Tight" is not normal. Sometimes when your boat is out of the water for a while, the hull changes shape slightly and throws the alignment off. This might be why you are experiencing this issue.

 

[Roland5048]

Do you have a packing nut or a dripless? If a nut, it could have been tightened too much when you installed the new shaft. This happened on a boat I was delivering. The flax was so tight that it heated up and completely shut the engine down. There aren't too many variables here.

 

[Charlie98117]

The purpose of this effort was to replace the dripless seal. No binding there or in alignment - haven’t attached the split coupling yet.

 

[jssailem]

Alignment first. Then look at the stuffing box. Suspect when alignment is correct everything else will be ok.

 

[dlochner]

I installed a new cutlass bearing along with a new shaft. Everything felt fine during dry fit and the bearing pressed in easily. After getting everything installed the shaft seems to have too much turning resistance.

Is this normal and something that will loosen up with some run-in? I can understand it being tighter considering the old bearing and shaft were badly worn, just curious if it’s normal to be tight when everything is new.

Is the boat still on the hard? The cutlass bearing is water lubricated, a new one will be stiff until it is wet. If the boat is still on the hard, have someone water the bearing with a hose and try it again.

 

[Charlie98117]

Thanks for the replies. Still on the hard. I’ll get water in it to see if there is any change.

 

[Bob J.]

I used liquid dish soap to lubricate the cutless bearing when pressing it in & in the bearing/on the shaft when pushing the shaft through. Try putting some on the shaft & letting it lubricate the bearing. If it doesn't spin fairly easy after that, something's up.

 

[Allan12210]

Look at it closely even with a magnifying glass. If the rubber is pinched at one spot around the shaft it will usually be pinched on the other side of the strut opposite on the shaft. That will indicate misalignment.

With that being said a properly aligned strut and new cutless can be stiff and will run in quickly.

 

[Charlie98117]

I applied water with a squirt bottle and it did feel looser. Don’t see signs of misalignment, I’m thinking it’s probably ok. Just the first time I’ve done one.

 

[jssailem]

Makes great sense Charlie. Thanks for getting back to us. Keep a eye on it. Especially as you get it back into the water. Give it a good run and listen to the shaft. My hope is you will hear nothing. And the smoothness of the new bearing will improve your boating experience for many years.

 

[dlochner]

I applied water with a squirt bottle and it did feel looser. Don’t see signs of misalignment, I’m thinking it’s probably ok. Just the first time I’ve done one.

The grooves in the cutlass bearing are there to flood the bearing with water. Once the shaft is submerged and starts to rotate water will get between the rubber part of the bearing and the shaft. The rubber has a fairly high coefficient of friction, so it needs to be lubricated. Oil or grease wouldn't work because it will flush out due to the shaft's rotation.

Now that you've replaced one cutlass bearing I bet you can't wait to do another.

 

[Charlie98117]

Now that you've replaced one cutlass bearing I bet you can't wait to do another.

Actually incorporating lessons learned it wouldn't be unwelcome. Better be someone else's boat though because this one better not need attention for a while.
I decided to saw the shaft rather than wrestle with removing a rusted up flange. The thing I wasn't sure about was getting a new shaft back in. In a previous thread on this question it was suggested to raise the engine rather than drop the rudder. This worked great and I just needed to raise the engine about 6" to slide the shaft in under it. Given that simple method I would just remove the prop and pull the shaft to do any work on it. For the cutlass bearing I had made a removal/installation tool that failed on the removal exercise but once the shaft is out removing the bearing with a sazall is pretty easy. And my homemade tool worked great for removing the prop and installing the new bearing.

 

[Charlie98117]

Makes great sense Charlie. Thanks for getting back to us. Keep a eye on it. Especially as you get it back into the water. Give it a good run and listen to the shaft. My hope is you will hear nothing. And the smoothness of the new bearing will improve your boating experience for many years.

Thanks John. When I pulled the boat and tried feeling any rattle in the cutlass bearing I couldn't detect any but when I pulled it all apart there was very little bearing rubber left and the shaft was well worn too. So yes, hoping for some improvement. There was a rattle at a certain RPM that I thought could be the bearing. Hopefully that will be gone!

 

[jssailem]

Fingers crossed.